This collection consists of background materials and drafts in manuscript, typescript, and carbon copy form, as well as galley
proofs and page proofs for The Art of Renoir by Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia.

Code:

AOR

Language:

The majority of this collection is in English. Some material is in shorthand, and a small quantity is in French.

Adrienne Pruitt. Finding aid written by Adrienne Pruitt,
January 2007.

Access Restrictions

The Barnes Foundation Archives is currently closed for research while staff complete grant-funded projects to process the
collection. Please contact the Archives for information on access and research.

Use Restrictions

The Barnes Foundation’s writings files are the physical property of the Barnes Foundation Archives. The Foundation holds literary
rights only for material created by staff of the Foundation and material given to the Foundation with such rights specifically
assigned. For all other material, literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.
Researchers are responsible for determining the identity of rights holders and obtaining their permission for publication
and for other purposes where stated.

Some items in this collection may be illegible due to the degradation of their physical elements, and some may be too fragile
for use without the archivist’s supervision. Please consult the archivist for more information.

Having established the Barnes Foundation in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine
arts,” Dr. Albert C. Barnes spent the next decade enhancing its collections and developing the educational program. Barnes
and Foundation teacher Violette de Mazia outlined their philosophy of aesthetics and art education in a series of publications,
including The Art in Painting (1st ed., 1925), Art and Education (1929), The French Primitives and Their Forms from Their Origin to the End of the Fifteenth Century (1931), and The Art of Henri-Matisse (1933). These publications made available to a wider reading audience the scientific method of analyzing artworks taught
to students in classes at the Foundation. Barnes and de Mazia began work on The Art of Renoir, their third collaboration, in 1932. A serendipitous Renoir retrospective at the Musée de l’Orangerie in 1933 allowed Barnes
and de Mazia to conduct firsthand research on 126 paintings and 23 drawings and watercolors. Further research trips in 1934
augmented their studies. Dr. Barnes, who had steadily been amassing his impressive collection of Renoirs since 1912, felt
no need to rush the book into publication. By 1935, Barnes numbered 175 Renoir paintings amongst his collection, the largest
(and, he felt, the best) such collection in the world. His purchases attracted the attention of the press, and his name had
become associated in the public’s mind with that of Renoir. Barnes felt it was necessary that he and de Mazia do the subject
full justice and produce an authoritative study.

A team of Foundation employees assisted with the preparation of the manuscript. Mary Mullen and Laura V. Geiger undertook
many secretarial and copy-editing duties, including taking dictation, typing drafts, and correcting punctuation and grammar.
Laurence Buermeyer improved phrasing and readability, while Nelle E. Mullen and Foundation student Luigi Settanni helped de
Mazia and Geiger compile and verify catalogue data. Barnes’s longtime friend and mentor, the educator and philosopher John
Dewey, was writing his book Art as Experience at the same time, and he and Dr. Barnes exchanged copies of their works in progress and offered one another comments and
suggestions. When Barnes admitted that he was flummoxed as to where, exactly, a footnote citing Dewey’s influence might be
properly placed in The Art of Renoir, Dewey replied that he had come across the same problem: “There are no chapters and not many, if any pages [in Art as Experience] that don’t owe something to you” and he dedicated his book “To Albert C. Barnes, in gratitude.” Their mutual influence
is further underscored by the introduction Dewey wrote for The Art of Renoir, in which he deemed the Barnes Foundation “the most thoroughgoing embodiment of what I have to say about education.”

The Art of Renoir was published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons on March 5, 1935. In it, Barnes and de Mazia systematically examine Renoir’s development
as an artist and relate his work to broader art historical traditions, especially Venetian painting and eighteenth-century
French painting. The book was widely well reviewed and has never gone out of print. It is currently in its eighth printing
and is still used in the Barnes Foundation’s educational program.

This collection consists of background materials, drafts, catalogue data, and proofs for The Art of Renoir by Albert C. Barnes and Violette de Mazia. Background materials include notes taken by Barnes and de Mazia at several exhibitions,
including the 1933 Renoir exhibition at the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris, and Quelques oeuvres importantes des Corot à van Gogh, held at Galerie Durand-Ruel, Paris, in 1934. Drafts are in manuscript, typescript, and carbon copy form, and in some cases
include working notes for the insertion, deletion, and reordering of material. These notes document the dynamics of Barnes’s
collaborative work method, recording which staff members took notes, typed drafts, or made corrections. In addition to drafts
by coauthors Barnes and de Mazia, this series contains substantial revisions by Foundation associate Laurence Buermeyer and
the draft of John Dewey’s introduction.

Notes that accompany two complete late drafts record biographical details of Renoir and his family and list the identities
of models and dates for particular paintings. Specifics of provenance may be found in the catalogue data compiled by Foundation
employees. A small number of galley and plate proofs survive; others, and perhaps some manuscript materials, were destroyed
by the publisher G.P. Putnam’s Sons at the request of Nelle E. Mullen.

Notes regarding comparisons between Renoir and other artists, and their influences on him, indexed alphabetically. Includes
manuscript annotations by Mary Mullen, Laura V. Geiger, and Violette de Mazia.

Arrangement

Intermediate drafts are generally arranged chronologically within the order of the final printed text. The exceptions to this
rule are the drafts for “Development,” which are arranged only chronologically. The “Development” portion of the book was
reworked extensively, and very little of the original draft order is reflected in the finished text. In this case, a chronological
arrangement better preserves the original order of the drafts.

Folder Title

Date

Extent

Folder Notes

"The Meaning of Development." Draft, typescript, corrected

April 14, 1933

1 Folder(s)

Draft by Laurence Buermeyer, with corrections by Buermeyer and Dr. Barnes. Published title: "Experience and Growth."

"The Meaning of Development." Draft, typescript, corrected

April 20, 1933

1 Folder(s)

Draft by Laurence Buermeyer, with corrections by Buermeyer and Dr. Barnes. Published title: "Experience and Growth."

Draft by Laurence Buermeyer, with corrections and manuscript additions by Buermeyer, Dr. Barnes, Violette de Mazia, and Laura
V. Geiger. Includes variant drafts by Dr. Barnes and Violette de Mazia, and black and white photos of "Figure in Garden" and
"Landscape with Woman and Dog" by Renoir. Dated February 18-May 16, 1933.

Arrangement

Late drafts are generally arranged by state (version 1, version 2, etc.) within the order of the final printed text. The exceptions
to this rule are the drafts for “Development,” which are arranged only chronologically. The “Development” portion of the book
was reworked extensively, and very little of the original draft order is reflected in the finished text. In this case, a chronological
arrangement better preserves the original order of the drafts.

Folder Title

Date

Extent

Folder Notes

"Foreword." Draft, typescript, corrected

December 1934

1 Folder(s)

Draft by John Dewey, with corrections by Dr. Barnes.

"Foreword." Draft, carbon copies, corrected

December 13, 1934

1 Folder(s)

Draft by John Dewey, retyped by Barnes Foundation staff, with corrections in an unidentified hand.

Includes a manuscript draft of "The Henriot Family" by Dr. Barnes, and a typescript draft of "Woman at Spring" by Laurence
Buermeyer. Corrections by Dr. Barnes, Violette de Mazia, Laurence Buermeyer, Mary Mullen, and Laura V. Geiger.

Scope and Content

These notes have been disassociated from their original referents. There were found in small paper-clipped packets, and this
original arrangement has been preserved. Future scholars may be able to decide to which draft(s) they refer.

"Catalogue Data." Notes in typescript, carbon copy, and manuscript form

circa 1934-1935

7 Folder(s)

Includes correspondence from Luigi Settanni to Violette de Mazia dated January 9, 1935, regarding an Italian translation.
Also includes sketches, notes on paintings, and an accounting of catalogues bought on behalf of the Foundation by Settani.